The present disclosure generally relates to data management. The disclosed embodiments relate more specifically to a system, apparatus, method, and computer program product for optimizing the storage of data based on cost and service levels utilizing a cloud-based virtual storage fabric.
The volume of data generated by individuals, enterprises, and organizations is growing at a frenetic pace. Traditionally, such entities have purchased more local storage as the volume of data that needed to be stored increased. Such a response to increased storage needs was possible because the cost of storage devices was dropping almost as fast as the size of storage needs was increasing. The cost of such data storage was, for example, the amortized cost of the corresponding storage device.
In an effort to manage such storage devices more efficiently, a policy-based management technique was developed that separates different types of storage devices (e.g., hard disk drive arrays, optical storage, tape storage, etc.) into different hierarchies that correspond to different levels of cost and retrieval speeds. That technique, which is referred to as Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM), involves storing data that is used more frequently on storage devices with higher retrieval speeds (e.g., hard disk drive arrays), while data that is used less frequently is migrated to storage devices with lesser retrieval speeds (e.g., tape storage). Nevertheless, storage devices with higher retrieval speeds generally cost more than storage devices with lesser retrieval speeds. Accordingly, HSM was utilized to reduce the costs of local storage solutions by allowing slower, less costly storage devices to be utilized to handle a majority of the data storage while only utilizing fast, more costly storage devices to handle the data that is currently and/or frequently being used.
More recently, entities have begun relying on cloud IT services for their data storage needs. Such services eliminate the need to purchase and maintain storage devices locally. Thus, rather than making their own efforts store data more efficiently, such as by utilizing HSM techniques, entities depend on the cloud IT service providers to adopt the appropriate techniques to reduce their storage costs. Moreover, cloud IT service providers typically charge their tenants on a month-by-month basis. Thus, rather than being able to amortize the costs of data storage over a finite period of time, those costs will continue perpetually as long as the need for storage persists.